Thanks to the New York Times, I found out about where most of Bob Ross’s paintings have been kept all these years. Bob Ross was the iconic host of the television show, The Joy of Painting. The PBS show ran from 1983 to 1994 and these old episodes continue to be watched on television, YouTube, and Netflix today.
In each episode, Bob taught his audience how to paint landscapes from his own imagination and memories. According to this NYT video, Bob would paint three versions of the same painting for each episode. Given the amount of episodes, Bob is estimated to have painted over a thousand paintings for the show alone.
Bob’s paintings are owned by a company known as Bob Ross, Inc. Bob Ross, Inc. was originally owned by Bob, his wife, Jane, and Annette and Walt Kowalski. The Kowalskis are credited with discovering Bob and financing his early career. When Bob died in 1995, predeceased by his wife Jane, the Ross’s shares of the company were left to the Kowalskis.
To date, Bob Ross, Inc. does not sell Bob’s paintings. It is a company that sells painting supplies, books and dvds, and other fun items like t-shirts and coffee mugs.
As a privately held corporation, Bob Ross Inc. can continue to hold onto Bob’s paintings for the foreseeable future. Only time will tell if the shareholders of Bob Ross Inc. might change their minds about Bob’s paintings. For now, the company has donated a collection of Bob’s paintings to the Smithsonian and the rest of us will just have to paint our own paintings by learning from Bob.
Just for fun, and to finish off my theme for the week, here is a video for happy little Bob Ross waffles.
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